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coign of vantage

American  

noun

  1. a good position for observation, judgment, criticism, action, etc.


coign of vantage British  

noun

  1. an advantageous position or stance for observation or action

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of coign of vantage

First recorded in 1595–1605

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

It would be far better to seize this coign of vantage, especially as Copley had not the smallest idea of the bitter enemy he was maintaining under his roof.

From Hard Pressed by White, Fred M. (Fred Merrick)

Helston had slid down from his coign of vantage, and now deliberately walked forth into the open.

From The Heath Hover Mystery by Mitford, Bertram

These dream-like glimpses of the City of Flowers, which every coign of vantage seems to give us round Florence–might we not, sometimes, imagine that we had stumbled unawares upon the Platonic City of the Perfect?

From The Story of Florence by Gardner, Edmund G.

“It is magnificent!” said Yseulte, as from the coign of vantage which the other had secured for her she surveyed the approaching band.

From Golden Face A Tale of the Wild West by Mitford, Bertram

The crow flaps in sudden alarm, the mink takes shelter in his coign of vantage among the driftwood, and the jays raise a multitudinous clamor of discordant outcry.

From In New England Fields and Woods by Robinson, Rowland E. (Evans)

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